College Tennis Review: Is Your Time Speeding Forward or Off the Rails?Jeff McMillan, Tennis Atlantic

April is crunch time in college tennis and this season has been a wild one thus far which will undoubtedly set up for a wild finish to the regular season. Here is my look at how certain teams are doing heading down the final tracks of the season.

(the real fun gets started in the off the rails segment at the end.)

Speeding Forward

These teams that are hitting their stride just at the right time and show no signs of slowing.

Wake Forest: The Deacs are on an absolute tear right now and are looking ominous to any team in the country. Even before the massive win in Chapel Hill they were looking great by plowing through several ranked teams. Sunday’s win in Chapel Hill was a culmination of great fight and showed exactly what Wake Forest is capable of moving forward. A huge matchup with Virginia looms.

Georgia: For the early half of the season UGA was not looking all that imposing, certainly not compared to their lofty standards. Ranked as low as 19, the Dawgs were starting to become somewhat overlooked nationally. All that has changed in a hurry in the last few weeks. Georgia revved up their speed on the tracks with a huge home win over Ohio State on March 20th and have turned the speed to maximum following the dominating performance in College Station this past Friday. Many people expected A&M to win that match and believed that if Georgia was to win it would be in the fashion of sneaking out a 4-3 thriller. Instead the Bulldogs punched the Aggies in the mouth and stole a 4-1 win. They are now 8-0 in the SEC and it looks like once again the SEC title will be heading to Athens.

SMU: Even before the last couple of week this was already a great season for the Mustangs of SMU. Then they decided to turn things up yet another notch by knocking off top 10 Oklahoma State and conference rival USF within the span of little over a week. Now the talk has shifted from will the Mustangs make the NCAA tournament to can they actually host a regional? Regardless of if they host one or not, nobody will want to see the red hot Ponies as their opponent as the season comes to a head.

TCU: This is a team that has not lost since February and one that has not lost at all this year on an open air court. They have not been without their tests but it seems like it’s becoming a college tennis regularity to see a TCU twitter video of Head Coach Roditi celebrating a big win as the Frogs yet again get the victory. The most recent example of this was their heart stopping victory over Texas A&M in front of a hostile crowd. TCU was definitely considered to be a title contender before the year began and they have not shown any signs of disappointing that expectation.

Southern Cal: The whispers of a USC down year had turned to full volume statements following the stunning loss to Washington. But in college tennis things can change in one weekend. The past weekend the Trojans dominated their NorCal conference rivals to make a huge statement. In both matches, the Trojans dropped the doubles point to Cal and Stanford respectively and in both they stormed back in singles to end up with convincing wins. It goes without saying that no matter what the season is, nobody should ever look past the USC Trojans in May.

Northwestern: The Wildcats have been a pleasant surprise this year. People expected them to have a good team but I don’t think anyone anticipated them being this good. The guys from Evanston have only 2 losses on their resume (one of which has since been avenged) thus far and have shown no signs of slowing down. They look set to host a regional as they continue to impress week after week.

Gaining Traction

These teams might are starting to find the track just at the right time

Duke: This extremely young team has had a pretty disappointing year for Duke standards. The Blue Devils fell out of the rankings for a couple weeks in March and the season looked to be shot. But thanks to a good win over NC State on Friday, suddenly things are starting to look up for the Blue Devils. Even more encouraging than the win over NC State was the fight they gave Virginia in match largely expected to be a rout. If they can bring that level of play for the ACC tournament then they can be surprisingly dangerous. (I say ACC tournament because the rest of their regular season schedule is unfortunate with very tough matches vs Wake and UNC and a match vs Clemson which will give them no benefit to winning)

Washington: The NCAA tournament drought for the Huskies looks to be coming to an end this year. The team has shown a lot in recent weeks with solid wins, punctuated with the cornerstone win over Southern Cal. Some tough Pac 12 matches remain vs Stanford, Cal and Oregon but the Huskies look to be playing their best tennis at the right time.

Nebraska: The Cornhusker improvement has not necessarily been shown in wins so far but in how they have played in recent matches. They are starting to really compete vs every team in the Big 10. Only a matter of time before they pull off the desired upset win.

Alabama: Things did not look great for Alabama early in the year and it took a while for things to turn around but now the Crimson Tide look to be finding their game. They are in battles with every SEC team now and most recently pulled out an important win at Ole Miss. They have played themselves into a good position to make the NCAA tournament.

Loyola Marymount: The Lions have been one of the best unranked teams for the past couple of seasons, being right there and threatening ranked teams, so close to the top 75 promised land. Finally they have gotten there this year and are looking like a legitimate contender in the West Coast Conference thanks to 3 consecutive wins over ranked teams.

Utah State: Utah State has quietly built a very solid program out in Logan, one that been a consistent force in the Mountain West. The Aggies have been playing good tennis in recent weeks. They look to be emerging as the favorite to win the Mountain West which is the most evenly matched conference top to bottom in the country.

Losing Steam

These teams are started to slow down when it matters most

Oklahoma State: Not that long ago Oklahoma State was looking very dangerous and like a national title contender. Now they are looking very vulnerable to an early NCAA tournament upset. The Cowboys were badly hurt when their solid #2 player Temur Ismailov pulled a KU Singh (apologies to UGA fans) and abandoned the team midstream to go play in the pros. Suddenly the Pokes lineup is looking mighty thin and just at the wrong time as they are about to start the brutal Big 12 conference schedule.

Stanford: Just how many chances does this team need before people give up on them as a serious contender? All year people parrot how talented Stanford is and how they are going to start gelling at any moment now. I was one of these, I thought this year’s Stanford’s team was finally a legitimate one. But what do they do when they are presented with opportunity? Get blown away in singles by the LA Pac 12 power firm. They do not have a single signature win this year and are running out of opportunities once again.

USF: Similar to Oklahoma State, the Bulls were looking great in the early parts of the year but have since fallen off the pace. And it’s now looking possible that they are the 4th best team in the AAC (behind Tulane, Tulsa and SMU). The loss to SMU on Saturday was a real eye opener to just how much this team is starting to skid on the tracks. They do not have a real solid option in the lower parts of the lineup and Roberto Cid is having to do too much on his own at the moment.

Notre Dame: The Fighting Irish are 2-6 in their last 8 ACC games and things are not looking good for their hopes of an NCAA tournament berth. Missing the NCAA tournament would be a pretty big disappointment for this veteran heavy team and it will be very hard for them to do so now.

Harvard: A heartbreaking loss for Harvard on Sunday vs Columbia was the cap on what has been a disappointing few weeks for the Crimson. They have lost to a number of teams that are considered to be around their level. They are just losing too many 50/50 matches. They need to find a way to get the killer instinct back.

Drake: After a hot middle part of the year, Drake has hit rough sledding recently. They would not be under the skidding category if it was not for the horrendous loss to William & Mary that they suffered in their most recent match. This match alone is the one that is putting Drake’s tournament chances in jeopardy (still a high chance to win their almost nonexistent conference though).

Off The Rails

These teams have lost the map, way off the tracks and have no way back on

Tennessee: Hey what are the Vols doing on this list?? They are on a 5 match tear! Well as impressive as it is to beat Murray State 4 times in a row when they do not field a full lineup in any of the matches, unfortunately the Vols still end up way off the rails. 0-8 in the SEC and not close to sniffing the top 75. The days of JP Smith, Rhyne Williams and Tennys Sandgren seem like eons ago now. Even the days of Reese and Libietis seem like fairytales now. One thing Tennessee can feel good about is that some teams still consider beating them warrants an excuse to have a mosh pit locker room celebration (see the South Carolina Gamecocks). Any more seasons like this though and teams will treat wins over Tennessee how they treat wins over Boston College. Oh wait some teams consider that win to be cause for rapturous celebration as well (see Clemson Tigers).

Iowa: At one point things were actually looking good for Iowa. They were in the top 35 in the rankings and it looked like they were going to have a rare good season for Iowa tennis. But then Big 10 play started. Well actually two of their worst losses came to non Big 10 teams (Lamar and Cal Poly got em). And they are no longer being competitive, many of the recent losses being routs. Good news for Iowa fans? They can still enjoy watching a 125 pound guy roll around with another 125 pound guy for a chance at an NCAA individual title on youtube replay (spoiler alert… The Hawkeye loses)

Arizona: This selection could be very controversial because it’s debatable whether the Arizona train was ever on the rails in the first place. Naoki Takeda does his best to try and drive the team forward but he alone can’t save a program that seems content to be completely irrelevant (several years now that Arizona has been a non-factor). I’m not sure you’ll believe me… but there’s a legend out there that Arizona once beat UCLA in tennis. In 2010 according to legend. Can’t possibly be true. Let’s stick to the true stories of how the Wildcats took down mighty UC Riverside.

San Diego State: San Diego is a very beautiful city. However it is probably a little less beautiful when you are stuck playing 2nd fiddle to a cross-town school that is 1/6th your enrollment size. This was actually supposed to be a good season for SDSU (the heart-eaters, not the fluffy tails from South Dakota) but they have never got on track all season. While they are supposed to be challenging San Diego they are falling behind even teams like UCSB and Santa Clara. Now they have played a tough schedule and the Mountain West is so evenly matched that anything is possible still for the Aztecs.

Baylor: It was always going to be crushing news for Baylor that the Baylor tennis training camps in Budapest and Dortmund would taking a year off this year but even still Baylor was expected to be a good team once again. Compared to the rest of the teams in this section, they are very good but for Baylor standards it is not good. Missing the NCAA tournament is a real possibility as the remaining parts of their schedule are brutal and they just failed to cash in on their best chance for a big win (at home vs Texas Tech. This is about as off the rails as Baylor tennis ever gets.

UTSA: I understand the concept of a down season after you lose several of your top players but how does a team go from a breakout year in 2015 to a 2-17 year in 2016? 2-17. (The Roadrunners actually have 3 wins but they never entered in the win over UIW on ITA so we can’t quite count that one can we?) When you fall behind Texas Rio Grand Valley in tennis after losing to them, a university that has existed for less than a year, you know things are bad. This tennis team does not do a very good job of distracting UTSA fans (they exist? Well I lived in San Antonio for 2 years and I met about 8 in a city of 1.3 million in that time so yes they exist) from their 3-9 football or their 5-27 men’s basketball team.

College Tennis: Early Season Preview and ResultsJeff McMillan, Tennis Atlantic

College tennis season is officially back in full swing! We had some great dual matches over the past weekend in the ITA indoor kickoff regionals in the second full weekend of the season. It is, of course, exceptionally early to be judging teams and players. However, based on early results there are a few teams that are obviously much better and much worse than a season ago.

I will explore which teams look to be the most improved from last year and also explore which teams appear to have taken significant steps back.

On The Upswing

San Diego

Each and every year the Torreros put out a strong team, making them one of the top “mid-major” programs in the entire country. This 2016 team appears to be their strongest team yet. Sporting three top 100 ranked ITA players and a top 10 ranked doubles team, San Diego went into snowy Durham (something Cal was unable to do as they had to cancel their trip to Durham) and came out as the winners of the regional. The veteran Torreros used their experience and poise to knock off the Duke Blue Devils on their home court which is no easy feat no matter how young Duke is this year. Senior #35 Uros Petronijevic led the way with a huge 6-4 7-5 win over #12 Nicolas Alvarez at the #1 position. That win in addition to the doubles point set the tone for the match and allowed Filip Vitek and Joshua Page to seal the victory.

Perhaps even more impressive than the win over a non-vintage Duke team was the 4-0 domination of Vanderbilt in the 1st round of the regional. Never letting the Commodores have a sniff at the win.

San Diego will now go on to Charlottesville to compete against the best teams in the country. Their performance there will go a long way to show just how good this team can be. This is THE year for San Diego. The Senior leadership of Uros Petronijevic, Jordan Angus and Romain Kalaydjian plus Junior Filip Vittek create the strong base for the team. These guys have all been together for a few years now and know what it takes to get over the hump and are ready to do so. UMBC transfer Jaan Kononov, who has experience playing #1 at the D1 level adds another layer of depth and dimension to the team as well.

The key for San Diego this year will be whether they can finish the year in the top 16 or not. It is vital that they do so they can host their own regional for once and not rely on the NCAA tournament committee to once again ship them to USC or UCLA and once again be a victim of location. This win over Duke and Vandy shows just what this team can do if they are removed from the confines of LA where they are again and again subject to being sent. Top 16 is absolutely vital. I think they can do it. The Torreros are a top 10 sleeper this year.

Kentucky

Last year Kentucky had a historically bad season. They finished the year outside the top 75 and fell way down in the pecking order of the SEC. It was a hard year for a program that had been used to success and was pushing nationally elite in the days of Eric Quigley. But it seems that the hard times were short lived for the Wildcats. Early into the year it is evident already that this UK team is far more talented and better than the team from a season ago. This team is stronger at the top with a blossoming player in William Bushamuka who will shoot up the rankings more and more as the season goes on. Freshman Ryotaro Matsamura is a massive influx of talent at #2 for this team. He will combine with Bushamuka for a good one-two punch this year. The improvement was immediately apparent last weekend as they went to Duke and shocked the Blue Devils. That is exactly the type of win that the UK team of a year ago was not capable of. They followed that win up with a nice win over an improved Michigan team this past weekend. In both matches Kentucky dominated the top 3 positions with Bushamuka and Matsamura rolling joined with Nils Ellefsen at #3.

The Wildcats do show signs of weakness at the bottom 3 positions however, as they struggled to get wins at 4-6 vs both Duke and Michigan. But the strength of the top 3 could be enough to offset that weakness. Plus if and when Beck Pennington returns to the lineup the Wildcats should turn that strong top 3 into a strong top 4.

Even with the lack of depth this team is certainly lightyears better than the 2015 edition of the Kentucky Wildcats and will make a push for the tournament. The SEC is a big jumble in the middle and I could see the Wildcats pulling some upsets and eventually becoming the breakthrough team of 2016 in that league.

Tulane

Tulane probably does not want to hear this after a gut-wrenching loss to Southern Cal in LA this past weekend but the Green Wave have one hell of a team this year and will be vying for a top 30 or even 25 spot this season. Not just any team can go into the City of Angels and take the mighty Trojans all the way to the wire. They were in the winning position for what would have been a massive upset and program changing win. The only negative you can take away from that effort in LA is that Tulane will now certainly not sneak up on anyone this year. Everyone in the college tennis world took notice of them after this weekend if they were not already aware of the team they have. Because this team is legit all across the board.

The current #1 ranked ITA player Dominik Koepfer spearheads the Green Wave’s ascension. He is backed by a nice mix of talented players including #63 Constantin Schmitz, #111 Sebastian Rey and the Van Cott twins.

Tulane made a move last year and was a much improved team from the 2014 team. They ended up being one of the last teams left out of the NCAA tournament, something that has undoubtedly made this year’s version even hungrier. They have all of their team back this year and they are a year stronger, more experienced and hungrier than ever to achieve more and I believe they will do just that and are my pick to win the American Athletic Conference this year.

Oregon

It could be a dangerous proposition to put too much stock in a near win vs a team that is clearly down from a year ago but that is exactly what I am going to with the Oregon Ducks. The Ducks took Baylor to the absolute limit in Waco before ultimately falling in a 3rd set tiebreaker (a buster). Waco is one of those college tennis shrines where it is impressive to have a good performance there no matter how good the Baylor team is.

Last year, Oregon disappointingly missed out on the NCAA tournament and took somewhat of a step back from what was expected. However, the 2016 team looks better and back on track. Before falling in heartbreaking fashion to the Bears on Sunday, Oregon dismissed a pretty good Old Dominion team 4-1 and before that, beat a solid UC Santa Barbara team in routine 7-0 fashion. The Oregon of a year ago would have not beat those teams so soundly but they would have been in a battle. The ability to put away dangerous mid-majors like UCSB and Old Dominion shows that this team has its head in the right place. And the fact that they came to battle with Baylor also shows an improvement in team mentality and belief.

A big reason for this improvement is the addition of super talented Freshman Thomas Laurent of France. He is a big add for Oregon and probably one of the most talented freshmen that the Oregon program has ever taken in. He was the player who suffered the clinching rough loss at #2 to Maxime Tchoutakian which was always going to be a tough spot for a freshman to get a big win on the road like that. The rest of the lineup is well balanced, with no weaknesses and no stand outs. Opposing teams will not know where their points will come from during any given match vs Oregon. Oregon should make the tournament this year and could push the Cali Quad in matches in the Pac 12.

Tough times were predictable following the departure of the talent laden senior class of 2015. Hess-Olesen, Glasspool and Berkowicz were the backbone and the limbs of Texas tennis the past couple of seasons and to suddenly be deprived of them was always going to be a big blow.

With that being said, the reloading process does not appear to be off to a very good start. Liam Caruana was supposed to be a stud #1 and a big get for the Longhorns, but instead he is playing in the Australian Open Juniors event and has decided against going to Austin for college tennis. A brief glimpse at this Longhorn lineup and it is evident that this team is nowhere close to the top 10 level Texas had become accustomed to the past two seasons. The results have backed that up thus far. A bad loss to a decent but not great Washington team and a lopsided loss to Florida did nothing to show that Texas will be better than the lineup indicates. They did gain a little bit of momentum with a very gutsy comeback effort vs Ole Miss, where they rallied from a set down on four courts and came up just short on one of the four courts. But still that is three losses already into this very young season.

The main problem with this team is at the top. George Goldhoff must take the reins at #1 pretty much by default. He has not been a great player for Texas in his career so far even at the #4 position, you could even say he has been somewhat disappointing and now he must play #1? That is not a recipe for success. Freshman Harrison Scott should be a decent player but he cannot do it all himself. Rodrigo Banzer could help a little bit despite taking one on the chin at #3 vs Ole Miss. John Mee should be a solid bottom of the lineup player in his 2nd college season but early season results so far indicate he has taken a step back and will not be a big contributor so they must rely on less talented guys to hold down the bottom while struggling at the top.

The Big 12 will be brutal this year as every team aside from Texas looks to be absolutely loaded. Tough year ahead for the Longhorns.

Clemson

One of the teams that looks to be significantly worse this year from a season ago is the Clemson Tigers. Things did not look good ever since the fairly poor fall results in the individual events and the results thus far have not shown any signs of improvement. Two lopsided losses to Dartmouth and Penn State this past weekend showed the lack of talent on the team. There was never a moment in either match where it looked like Clemson had a chance to win. There were not even any what I like to call “create your own victory” scenarios that coaches love to throw out there. And Penn State and Dartmouth are not world beaters. Good teams? Yes. Teams that should be beating you 6-1 if you are an ACC team? No

The real sting in the tail, however, was the loss to Mercer the previous weekend. Mercer is probably not a top 150 caliber team (shown by their awful 6-1 loss to Southern Illinois after beating Clemson).

Now how did Clemson get to this point? Remember this team is only 2 years removed from back-to-back NCAA tournament 2nd round appearances, being only 1 court away from a Sweet 16 trip each year. The answer is talent. This team has lost a lot of talent recently and has not replaced it. Luke Johnson is a very solid player at the #5 or #4 position but he is having to play #1 now, pretty much by default (much like Goldhoff of Texas as mentioned above). Alexandre Favrot was a bigtime recruit and is supposed to be a great player for Clemson this year. It would probably be best to put him at #1 and see what he can do versus the top talents in the country. The lack of growth from a few of the players at the bottom of the lineup hurts the team as well. Certain players have not shown improvement and therefore they accumulate quite a few losses lower in the lineup. And let’s not forget that Hampton Drake transferred to Duke after having a solid end to 2015 last year.

It’s unlikely that this team will finish the year in the top 75. They will need to have a few upsets in order for that to happen. They will need big contributions from some of the lower lineup guys and hope that Favrot has a breakout year at #1.

Louisville

The Louisville Cardinal are a hard team to figure out, mainly because they lack an identity and their team seems to be a jumble of players who don’t mesh well together. They are clearly not as good as a year ago thanks to the departure of Sebastian Stiefelmeyer, who had one of the best breakout years in the country last year for an individual. So far this year, they have been roughed up by Northwestern, roughed up by Memphis and lost to UC Santa Barbara in a surprise. They showed no lineup consistency in any of those 3 matches. Yes, it is early in the year and they have a very young team, so it is normal to fit and piece things together to see where players fit. But it is a little odd to have players drop in and out of the lineup the way Louisville does (they did this to an extent last year as well).

For instance, Jeffrey Brown and Sean Donohue did not make an appearance in the singles lineup vs UCSB and Brown not vs Memphis either despite player at 2 and 3 vs Northwestern. Also Christopher Morin-Kougoucheff did not play singles in the Cardinals first 2 matches against good competition and then suddenly appears at #3 vs UCSB. This type of lineup inconsistency will certainly keep the opposition guessing but at the cost of destroying team chemistry and individual confidence. This team will need to find some solid answers moving forward but it is looking unlikely with the lack of talent on the roster.

South Carolina

Clemson was not the only team from the Palmetto state that had a rough weekend on the road this past weekend. The Gamecocks equaled their rival’s tough weekend in New Hampshire with a tough weekend of their own in Columbus by falling in consecutive matches to Denver and Wichita State.

On paper, the Gamecocks should really be better this year than they were a year ago. They have an influx of some new talented freshmen and appear to have more depth plus they lost automatic loss machine Andrew Adams to graduation. So what exactly is going on with this team? They have issues at the top, with no dominant #1 type of player. The depth also appears to not be as strong as originally thought.

Gamecock coach Josh Goffi has made it a big point of emphasis in recent years to recruit Americans. This wins him some fans with those who believe college tennis has too many foreigners (I am not one of those people, I like foreigners playing the college game). Goffi gets praised for Americanizing the roster but does not get knocked for the team accumulating losses. You have to wonder if they are just relying too heavily on American freshmen to step in and immediately make a big impact in the college game. It is clear that Yancy Dennis in particular is going to need some time to adapt to the college game before being a big contributor for this team. O’Keefe and Mayronne will have to shoulder a lot of the burden if this team is to be competitive in the SEC this year. Can they do it? It will definitely help if Gabriel Friedrich ever returns from injury. All is not lost for this team (unlike the other 3 on this list), but things will be tough regardless.

Sliding Downward honorable mentions: Duke, Baylor, UTSA, UL-Lafayette

There is still a ton of tennis left to be played. We have only seen 5% of what these teams can do so far. Nothing is guaranteed. Any of these teams written about or listed in the honorable mentions can prove me wrong one way or another. One thing I CAN guarantee though is that this college tennis season will be 100% free from match fixing. And that is definitely not something the ATP can say.

Best Win: 4-3 at Baylor – The frenzy that was this titanic match between #1 and #2 ended in favor of the Sooners on enemy turf. In a season full of impressive wins and fending off challengers, this win stands alone as the most impressive of the season for John Roddick’s boys.

Worst Loss: 4-3 loss at Texas Tech- Following the massive win in Waco, the Sooners fell in Lubbock to the upstart Red Raiders who had been playing better and better as the season progressed. This loss was disappointing but overall did not affect the Sooner’s ranking and therefore is not a detrimental loss.

Team MVP: Axel Alvarez – Andrew Harris and Dane Webb also strong contenders for this award, especially considering the clutch nature of Webb all season. But it is hard to argue against undefeated in dual play. Alvarez’s amazing season has anchored the Sooners all spring and he has been the key to their rise to #1.

Grade: A

A great season all around for Oklahoma, with huge wins all over the place. They have defied the doubters time and time again. The true value of their season will be determined in the NCAA tournament. If they can take home the title it will be one of the best seasons of any team in recent memory.

Baylor

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Virginia – The first win over Virginia indoors in Chicago gets the nod as the Bears best win of the season because it set the tone. By beating the prohibitive indoor favorites, the Bears showed that they meant business in 2015 and were one of the teams to be reckoned with nationally

Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Oklahoma – The Bears have lost to the Sooners 3 times this year and it is the 3rd loss that is the worst of the bunch. Yes it was very close but it was the most disheartening because of the raucous crowd and how very nearly Baylor came to winning. This loss could be a confidence bruiser if the Bears are to face Oklahoma again in the Big 12 tournament or the NCAA tournament.

Team MVP: Julian Lenz – Lenz is the #1 ranked individual player in the nation right now and his results back that ranking up. He has been amazing all season. Maxime Tchoutakian’s insertion into the team in January has been critical as well but he does not get this award based on his poor record vs. the elite teams this season.

Grade: A

The season that Baylor was hoping for as they entered 2015. They have exceeded expectations to a degree and been even better than people were expecting thanks to the overall strength of the lineup where no weak spots can be found. Losing 3 times vs. a conference rival is not ideal, however they still have chances to remedy that as postseason begins.

TCU

Best Win: 4-0 vs. Texas A&M – The sheer domination of this win was impressive and gets the nod as the best win for the Horned Frogs in 2015. A 4-0 blanking with the 3 finished singles courts ending in lopsided scores. A&M has since gone on to win the SEC title which makes this dominating win ever more impressive.

Worst Loss: 4-1 vs. UCLA – At the time this loss did not seem to be that bad, but now that the Bruins have shown that they are a shadow at best of previous UCLA teams, this loss stands out as the lone bad blemish on TCU’s resume.

Team MVP: Guillermo Nunez – Going from starting the season at #6 and rising to winning matches vs. highly ranked opponents at #2 is just about the most impressive advancement any player can show in one season. The freshman from Chile lost 1 dual match all season and has been TCU’s rock all year long.

Grade: A+

After a heartbreaking 2014 season where the Horned Frogs found any and every way possible to lose 4-3 matches vs. highly ranked teams, 2015 was cathartic is so many ways. All the talent came together for a special season that will likely not end until deep into NCAA tournament play.

Texas

Best Win: 4-1 vs. Ohio State – A straightforward defense of their home city (even if it is not their true home courts at Caswell) earns the title of best win for the Longhorns. Ohio State never truly threatened in this match, which is what made this win so impressive.

Worst Loss: 4-1 at TCU – This loss was disappointing for the Longhorns because of how one-sided it was. TCU won 3 straight set matches in singles play to get the win. This convincing loss plus two other one-sided losses vs. Baylor and Oklahoma showed that there is a gap between the top 3 of the Big 12 and Texas.

Team MVP: Soren Hess-Olesen – Was the best player in the country for much of the dual season. And while he picked up a couple of losses late in the year, Soren still remained an almost sure point for Texas all year and because of that gave Texas a chance in each match they competed in.

Grade: B-

The regular season started out stronger than it ended. They are still a top 10 team nationally, but the lopsided losses to the 3 teams above them in the Big 12 shows that there is a gap there. It is a bit disappointing for the Horns that TCU has been able to surpass them in one season, especially with it being the senior year for the top 3 of Soren Hess Olesen, Lloyd Glasspool and Adrien Berkowicz.

Texas Tech

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Oklahoma – Without this win the season was very good, but nothing special. But with this win the Red Raiders turned their season into something potentially special. This huge upset over the previously bulletproof Sooners gives Texas Tech a chance to host a regional and make a run in the NCAA tournament.

Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Clemson – A loss to a team that is just barely hanging on in the top 75 is dragging down Texas Tech like an anchor. Without this loss they would be pretty safely assured of a regional host slot, but with this loss it will be a very close call.

Team MVP: Alex Sendegeya – The freshman has posted pivotal wins in many of Texas Tech’s most critical wins. He (along with Jolan Cailleau) has been a key cog at #3 and bridges the teams strong top 2 with their not quite as strong 5 and 6 position players. His dominant 6-2 6-3 win over Dane Webb over Oklahoma set the tone for the massive upset.

Grade: A

The season has turned into a lot more than what anyone was expecting as March rolled into April. This team appears to be peaking at just the right time, getting all of their hiccups (Clemson, New Mexico) out of the way early and now they can focus on tournament play looking dangerous.

Oklahoma State

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Tulsa – Tulsa is the highest ranked team that Oklahoma State defeated all season and they did so in dramatic 3rd set breaker fashion courtesy of Arjun Kadhe over Alejandro Espejo. Tulsa would go on to prove that they were a pretty formidable team, so this win stands alone for the Cowboys.

Worst Loss: 4-3 at Notre Dame – Another match that came down to the absolute wire, but this time on the wrong end for Oklahoma State. This was a big chance to get a huge early season win on the road, but the loss was a heartbreaker and ended up being damaging the whole season.

Team MVP: Lucas Gerch – Only lost 1 dual match prior to the start of Big 12 play and had a signature win over Lloyd Glasspool of Texas in the Big 12 opener. His strong play at the #3 and then the #2 position was critical for Oklahoma State staying in the NCAAA tournament range all season.

Grade: B

A decent season for Oklahoma State in 2015 and it was one that mirrored the previous season of 2014 perfectly. Maybe a little bit more improvement was expected from the Cowboys considering the returning players and the renaissance that was the 2014 season. Still, the Cowboys will be in the NCAA tournament again and will have a chance to do more.

PAC 12

Stanford

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Southern Cal – This win was the one announcing Stanford’s ambition to return to the top of the college tennis world. All season there were signs of improvement but this win showed that the improvement was real and that the Cardinal may be headed back to the elite soon.

Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Cal – All momentum gained from the USC win was lost after losing this match at home on senior day vs. rival Cal. The win over USC should have propelled Stanford to a new level, one above the level of Cal but instead they allowed their bay area rivals to drag them back down again.

Team MVP: Tom Fawcett – Playing all season at #1, the freshman was a stalwart for the Cardinals, immune to some of the ups and downs that the other Stanford players faced throughout the year.

Grade: B

By traditional Stanford standards this season was another poor one but based on very recent seasons 2015 was a year of growth and a positive one overall. A lack of ambition in scheduling prevented Stanford from climbing higher in the rankings. The team is talented and we will see how well they can do in the NCAA tournament coming up and if they can pull anymore big upsets.

Southern Cal

Best Win: 4-0 at Georgia – The first of two wins over UGA this year for the Trojans. This one is the more impressive considering it was in Athens and it was a 4-0 sweep. This win showed that the Trojans weren’t going anywhere this year.

Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Tulsa – An absolute stunner at the time. Tulsa was ranked out of the top 50 and Southern Cal was looking just as dominant as they look every year, so this match was not even on anyone’s radar as interesting let alone as a potential upset. This shocking loss started the downward trend for USC’s season.

Team MVP: Eric Johnson – Was racking up the wins even when Yannick Hanfmann and Roberto Quiroz hit rough patches and it is important to note that he was not in the line-up on the day the Trojans lost to Tulsa at home.

Grade: B-

Being in the top 10 is an outstanding season for most programs but when you have won 5 out of the last 6 national titles, simply being in the top 10 is not considered an achievement. The Trojans had a couple of head scratching losses this year (Tulsa, Stanford) and looked less than elite in losses vs. Baylor and Oklahoma. However, there is still time for them to capture that postseason magic that they seem to always have.

UCLA

Best Win: 4-1 vs. TCU – The Bruins only win against a top 10 team this year and it stands out as the most impressive win on the season by far.

Worst Loss: 4-3 vs. Florida – Losing to a Gator team that is outside the top 20 currently was a bad way to start the season for UCLA. After dropping a tough match vs. UGA, the Bruins were hoping to gain some redemption against another SEC foe but instead the road trip out east turned into an 0-2 letdown.

Team MVP: Mackenzie McDonald – Has elevated his play this season and taken Macros Giron’s void fairly nicely at the #1 spot. One of the top players in the college game.

Grade: C

A pretty poor season overall by UCLA Bruin standards. Their NCAA quarterfinal streak is in serious jeopardy with their current ranking barely even being in the hosting range. It was always going to be tough to replace Giron and Thompson but UCLA tennis is used to reloading every year with new talent and this year it just has not happened to the same degree.

Cal

Best Win: 4-3 at Stanford – Sweet revenge for the Cal bears to end the regular season. Having suffered a crushing 4-3 loss to Stanford earlier in the year, they delivered a defeat on the Cardinal themselves as Nolan Paige of Stanford was unable to do what Maciek Romanowicz was able to do in the first meeting (rally to win in the 3rd set in the clinching match).

Worst Loss: 4-2 at San Diego State – This loss set the Bears back quite a bit. It set the Aztecs season in motion but it was nearly just as damaging for Cal. It showed that this year’s team had taken a step back from last year.

Team MVP: Gregory Bayane – Squeaks past Andre Gorannson for this award based on his solid record at #3 singles all year. Even during Cal’s struggles you could count on Bayane to deliver a win and give the team a chance to get the W.

Grade: B-

It is hard to grade Cal’s season. They had some ups and some downs following the departure of Ben McLachlan from a season ago. They had a good returning roster however and some good new talent, a little bit more was expected of the Bears this season.

Oregon

Best Win: 4-1 vs. Washington – Oregon’s season resume is really lacking of quality wins so this one stands alone as the premier win. Convincing score lines on 3 singles courts plus doubles gave the Ducks a fairly straight forward win over their rivals from the state up north.

Worst Loss: 4-3 at Pepperdine – The Waves are a bubble team and Oregon is currently on the outside of the bubble thanks in large part to this match. Had the result been reversed to a 4-3 Ducks win the two teams may be swapped in the rankings and it would be Oregon who would slip into the tournament. Amazing the difference a couple of 3rd sets can make.

Team MVP: Daan Maasland – Following the departure of Robin Cambier after the 2014 season, Oregon appeared to have a real issue on their hands at the #1 position. But Maasland stepped into the role admirably and even got a few big scalps along the way. His signature win being over Tom Fawcett of Stanford.

Grade: C+

The Ducks will likely miss the NCAA tournament in 2015 barring an upset of Cal in the Pac 12 quarterfinals. The season was about the same as the last few years for Oregon, no real progress was made but at least there were no steps back either.

Washington

Best Win: 4-3 vs. Tulsa – This win is single-handedly keeping Washington in the top 75 as their only other ranked win is over #74 Portland. This win made it appear early that the Huskies may have been ready to do big things in 2015.

Worst Loss: 4-1 at Oregon – This loss was a letdown for Washington. They never really threatened the Ducks and it made the gap between the two teams apparent.

Team MVP: Jake Douglas – The freshman had a hot start to the dual season and was winning matches left and right, he may have tapered off to end the year but was still a big part of any Husky win.

Grade: C-

A 2nd straight year of disappointment for Washington. While last year could be chalked up as a rebuilding year, 2015 was supposed to be more of a step forward year but instead it turned into another year of struggle for UW. With the fresh talent 2016 will have to be a much better year or Husky tennis is in trouble.

Utah

Best Win: 4-1 vs. New Mexico – The only quality win for Utah all season. This was the only time all year where the Utah team came together and put forth a good effort across the board to get a big win at home.

Worst Loss: 5-2 at Boise State – Boise State was not a good team this year, they had lost a lot of pieces from 2014 and were certainly in a rebuilding phase but that didn’t stop Utah from being beaten by them. This loss was fairly early in the season as well, which put a big damper on the outlook for the rest of the year.

Team MVP: Slim Hamza – Barely played in 2015 and his absence showed big time. With Hamza at #1 Utah is a much better team. There was a time when he had the potential to be a nationally top 40 player, but injury sidetracked this ambition. Without him Utah was a very tepid team.

Grade: D

Very poor season. Utah tennis is not adapting to life in the Pac 12 very well at all despite the conference being relatively down in the last two seasons. In 2015 Utah had no answers and without Hamza any chance of winning competitive matches was lost.

Arizona

Best Win: 4-1 vs. New Mexico – Like Utah, Arizona was able to beat the Lobos. Something about the crew from the ABQ brought out the best in the Pac 12 bottom feeders.

Worst Loss: 4-2 vs. Southern Miss – Arizona has several bad losses but this one takes the cake as being the one truly ghastly loss on the resume. Southern Miss was a middle of the pack CUSA team who did not threaten anybody worth anything all year but were still able to beat this sorry Pac 12 team.

Team MVP: Naoki Takeda – The only Wildcat who played good tennis is 2015. He had a signature 6-2 6-0 dominating win over #10 Dominik Koepfer of Tulane which vaulted him into the rankings. Unfortunately it looks like Takeda will just miss out on the individual tournament barring a plethora of withdrawals.

Grade: F

Nothing good came from the 2015 season. Truly a program in shambles right now. Tucson should be able to host a pretty good college tennis program especially with Arizona State dumping tennis a few years ago, but instead Arizona is struggling (and failing) to remain even remotely relevant in the Pac 12.

SEC

Being the only major conference to have completed their conference tournament already, SEC grades will be coming out later.

The ITA Indoor Men’s Indoor National Championships will take place this weekend in Chicago at the Midtown Athletic Club. 16 teams qualified for this event based on winning their kickoff weekend regional, which was recapped previously here on Tennis Atlantic with a kickoff weekend all-star team. The action will be intense in Chicago all weekend, with each team guaranteed 3 matches (teams that make the final will play 4 matches). The teams will be drawn and matched up based on rankings. The draw comes out Wednesday.

These 16 teams will be competing in Chicago for the right to be called indoor champion and also for a good shot at quality wins for the rankings.

Here are 7 teams in particular to watch that stand out as their designated label:

The Favorite: Virginia

Why the Cavs will win it:

The Virginia Cavaliers enter Chicago as the clear favorite to win the indoor title once again.

UVA has made winning the indoor championships almost an annual right of passage in recent years. This year’s team looks to be one of the strongest in their history.

Thai-Son Kwiatkowski who is the new #1 ranked player in the ITA rankings has been unbeatable in his early college career and has shown no signs of slowing down.

Ryan Shane and Mitchell Frank look to be as formidable as ever.

The strength of the UVA top 3 forces former Kalamazoo champion Colin Altamirano to play as low as #4 on the team, which speaks to the Cavaliers insane depth. The strength of the team plus the history of being the top dog indoors, makes Virginia the favorite to win it all in Chicago.

Why the Cavs may not win it:

It seems like a pretty safe bet to pick Virginia to win the championship but there are a few reasons why that could potentially not happen.

Lack of a challenge thus far. Virginia has not played a difficult dual match yet as a team. The best team they have played to this point has been #43 Louisville. Other top teams have already played a few difficult and testing matches. If the Cavaliers find themselves in a tight match it could lead to some extra pressure being placed on the Cavs.

Mental block vs USC. Even though Virginia is the more talented team this year, Southern Cal still has the big advantage in the mental department vs Virginia based on recent history, as the Trojans have owned the Cavs on the biggest stages in recent years even. If these two teams end up facing off, Virginia could again find themselves once again starring down the barrel vs the Trojans in a desperate situation.

The Top Challenger: Southern Cal

Why the Trojans will win it:

The biggest obstacle to Virginia waltzing away with the title is Southern Cal. Per usual, the Trojans once again have a very good team.

#7 Yannick Hanfmann and #24 Roberto Quiroz are two of the most talented and pro ready players in college tennis and headline a very string lineup. And the two couple to make the #1 ranked doubles team in the land right now.

Added to the mix this year is Johnny Wang, who rarely played in the top 6 a year ago but is ranked #20 in the nation early in 2015 and has established himself as a stalwart at #3 for the Trojans.

The Trojans are battle tested already, having already beaten #4 Georgia 4-0 in Athens and also have beaten #14 Florida.

Why the Trojans will not win it:

Despite the positives there are reasons why to be back the Trojans as your championship pick in Chicago.

Lack of indoor success. Southern Cal owns 5 of the past 6 national championships, but has had far less success indoors during hat time.

Depth of the line-up is questionable. 4-6 have a few question marks vs the other top teams

The Other Challengers: Georgia, Baylor and Illinois

Why the Bulldogs could win it:

Georgia has a chance to win the title in Chicago, based on their improved team from a year ago.

The strength of the top 3. Freshman #21 Wayne Montgomery joins #21 Austin Smith and #17 Nathan Pasha at the top of the UGA line-up provide the Bulldogs with a good chance to get 4 points vs the other top teams.

Why the Bears could win it:

Baylor is another team that has a chance to win the title.

Strength throughout the lineup. Baylor has no weak spots in their top 6 and can challenge any team 1-6.

Maxime Tchoutakian’s form. The latest addition to the Bear roster (joined in January) has been on fire recently by qualifying for the Dallas Challenger.

Why the Fighting Illini could win it:

Illinois has an outsider’s chance at winning the title as well

Host team. Even though they are not at home in Champaign, the Fighting Illini are the host school and will probably have the most fans attending.

Indoor specialty. Illinois is always a stronger team indoors than outdoors.

Line-up balance. The Illini have 5 ranked players and have no weak spots anywhere in the line-up.

Why the Bulldogs won’t win it:

Questions in the lower parts of the line-up, especially at #6 where they are likely to be the underdog in most matches vs other top teams.

Already have been beaten 4-0 by Southern Cal and that was at home in Athens.

Why the Bears won’t win it:

Doubles question marks. Baylor has no powerhouse doubles team, like the other top teams do, which could prove costly for the doubles point.

Lack of results vs other top teams. Baylor has not fared very well vs other top 10 teams recently and that is a big red flag if one is to pick them to win the title.

Why the Fighting Illini won’t win it:

Lack of top quality firepower that is needed to win 4 straight matches. Illinois can beat one of the other top teams but is not likely to win 4 matches in 4 days, simply not strong enough in the end.

The Pretender: Oklahoma

Why the Sooners will not win the title:

Now this is not to say that Oklahoma is not a top 5-quality team, because they certainly are. This is just simply stating that they will not win this particular championship. They have a much better shot in May to win the national title than they do to win this title in Chicago.

Top players not yet peaking. #26 Andrew Harris hit his peak level in Australian early in January in preparation for the college season, but since then has not been quite as good. He does have a good win over Noah Rubin but overall Harris has shown his more susceptible side in recent dual matches.

Spencer Papa not in the best form. On paper seeing Papa at #4 should seem like a slam-dunk win for Oklahoma every match. However it has not played out that way to this point in the season.

Lack of doubles depth. While OU has a strong team at the top doubles position, they have twice lost the doubles point already this season to lower ranked teams (USF and Northwestern) due to losing at 2 and 3 doubles.

Why the Sooners could prove me wrong:

Despite the negatives, Oklahoma is still a very talented team.

Talent could turn on at any time. Oklahoma has the ability to turn on the jets vs other top teams.

Experience of #11 Axel Alvarez-Llamas and #31 Dane Webb. The two veterans could lead the team to rally and get big wins.

The Gatecrasher: TCU

Reasons to watch the Horned Frogs:

TCU is a very talented and improved team that could be dangerous to anyone in Chicago and could turn things upside down

Form of #18 Cameron Norrie. Norrie has been on fire recently and is already one of the top college players in the nation very early into his freshman season. He can play with any other top player.

Veteran leadership of #48 Nick Chapell, #85 Facundo Lugones and Arnau Dachs. These 3 Horned Frogs have been around TCU a while and know what it takes to get big dual wins, they are all ready to taste the success that has alluded them thus far in their careers.

#112 Guillermo Nunez being a rock in the lower line-up. He has yet to lose a dual match and will be a very strong spot for TCU whether they decide to play him at 5 or at 6.

Why the Horned Frogs could not be ready to challenge teams:

There are a lot of positive things to say about the TCU Horned Frogs, but there are still a few questions that could stymie their growth to a national challenger here in Chicago.

Snake-bitten history in tight matches. Last year TCU lost a ton of close matches, some of which in quite fantastically dramatic ways. If they are pit in a tight match here in Chicago, some of those old memories could seep back into their consciousness, especially for the veterans.

The Mincemeat: Penn State

Why the Nittany Lions are out of their league:

Penn State was a surprise qualifier for the final 16 here in Chicago and garnered a lot of praise nationwide for their surprise qualification. However since then, things have not gone so well.

Loss to unranked Penn. How did Penn State celebrate their huge Chicago qualification? By losing to unranked and unheralded Ivy League team Penn. It was a shocking loss that set the Nittany Lions back several steps.

Soundly beaten by #37 Virginia Tech. Penn State also lost to #37 Virginia Tech over the weekend in straightforward fashion. If Penn State is getting beat soundly by the likes of a team ranked outside the top 30, then how will they fare vs teams that are top 15 in the nation?